4. May 2026

Improve your healthy life expectancy

How can you improve your healthy life expectancy, especially if you live in a country like the UK where it is falling?

These are the questions I found myself asking after reading an analysis by The Health Foundation, based on figures published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). They paint a stark picture: over a decade, from 2012-2014 to 2022-24, it fell by about two years for both men and women. In other words, the average number of years a person could expect to live in good health declined to just under 61, a full five years before state retirement age. What is more, in the most deprived parts of the country it was much lower, in fact below 55 years.

Healthy life expectancy is these days seen as a more accurate picture of a nation’s health than life expectancy alone. Defined as “the average number of years a person born during a given period would expect to live in good health based on current mortality rates and the prevalence of self-reported good health”, it has declined to such an extent in the UK that as of 2021 it ranked 20^th out of 21 high-income developed countries. Over a decade, only four countries aside from the UK – Canada, Germany, the Netherland and US – also registered falls, with the other 16 seeing increases or remaining steady.

Although The Health Foundation’s analysis is critical of successive UK governments’ approach to public health and says that “putting improving health on a par with delivering economic growth” should be a “core objective of government policy”, there is surely much that we as individuals can also do to improve our healthy life expectancy. First and foremost, we must take responsibility for our health and remember that even the smallest actions can make a difference.

Take food, which is one of the fundamental building blocks of our health. By adopting a wholefood, plant-based diet, we will be significantly reducing the possibility of developing such chronic conditions as cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and several types of cancer.

Introducing some form of exercise into our lives can also be a game changer. The key is finding one that we find enjoyable because then we are likely to stick with it, especially in the long term.

Avoiding tobacco is meanwhile a must. Fortunately, today we live in more enlightened times than even a generation ago as its harmful effects on our health are well known. Ranging from respiratory illnesses to heart disease, strokes and over 20 types of cancers, it also accelerates biological ageing and significantly reduces both life and healthy life expectancy.

Limiting or avoiding alcohol altogether is also recommended. Regular consumption above moderate levels has been proven to shorten life expectancy, while even small amounts can be detrimental to health.

Other actions we should adopt to improve our healthy life expectancy include getting enough sleep, being socially active and maintaining a positive mindset.

While this is all well and good, life can be unpredictable and sometimes throw curveballs at us, especially when we least expect them. When it comes to health, these could range from a sudden short illness to a long-term life-threatening condition. Yet even taking this into account, we should not lose sight of the fact that our health, and with it our healthy life and life expectancy, is largely in our hands.

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